Does anyone feel really uncomfortable seeing people in masks?

[Lissy23]

I do.
It feels to be like their ‘faceless’ beings.
I know this sounds really far fetched, but it’s how I feel.

I also find it very unpleasant being unable to see somebody’s facial expression and to know whether they are smiling at me.
I think I’m on the spectrum, possibly aspergers, I’ve been told by various therapists that it’s a possibility.

How will anyone meet a romantic partner if they can’t see their face? Only their eyes? I know eyes are supposed to be the ‘window the soul’ but I can’t bear not seeing somebody’s entire face.

I went to the pharmacy the other day and the pharmacist was wearing a mask, he was talking to me and I didn’t understand him at all. I didn’t think I relied on lip reading, but I obviously do. He said it twice and I didn’t get it, so I just pretended I had

I know this is all for the greater good. But I feel so depressed and anxious by it all, I already suffer with mental health issues.

I am finding it difficult reading books and watching tv programme or films because they make me tearful and remind me of life before all of this ‘new normal’. I’m wondering if I should speak to a doctor. But I have no idea how to word it.
I’ve already had people calling me selfish and childish (friends and family) for being anxious about wearing a face covering.
It isn’t just other people wearing them, I can’t breathe when I have anything covering my nose and mouth and it often induces a panic attack.

I almost think this is a moot argument anyway. Give it a little more time and it’ll become normal to wear one. People will largely consider you rude if you enter a shop without one on. I don’t think it’ll take long before they’re so ubiquitous that people will barely give it a second thought.

Quietlyloud Do you mean when I was in labour? I did understand why they were wearing them, and I didn’t say anything about them taking them off did I, just providing an example of when masks could be frightening that I thought you might be able to see as not “childish”. Understanding why they were wearing masks didn’t stop it being frightening that I found it harder to understand what they were saying to me. Do you remember being in labour? Do you have no compassion? Why are you responding in such an arseholish way as to call a woman in labour childish for a reaction to finding it difficult to communicate with HCPs? Before coronavirus, effective communication with women in labour was seen to be an important thing, so it’s not surprising that I might have absorbed that message.

@Ethelfleda

TaxTheRatFarms Oh dear, you’ve committed the cardinal sin of believing in science. Silly you! Clearly, a far better choice would be to believe some made up bollocks by someone who has absolutely zero credibility whatsoever. Don’t you know anything about the internet?

I’m so ashamed!! I’m off to flagellate myself immediately and watch conspiracy videos on YouTube to heal my wrong and sickened brain!!

EnlightenedOwl oh, so wearing a mask makes someone a virtue signaller? Okay, so your dentist, surgeon etc all just looking attention and praise? Sure..

You do realise that virtue signalling is nigh on pointless in a supermarket

^ this - and like pps I feel self-conscious in a mask as well - couldn’t be further from virtue signalling. The last few months have been absolutely awful, and the pandemic is not over. Am annoyed that Johnson hasn’t made them compulsory in public spaces (other than for people with sensory issues etc) as that would really help to keep the number of infections down, especially this coming Autumn and Winter.

As per a previous poster I am more uncomfortable when I see people without.

I appreciate some can't; I am asthmatic, and both children are autistic and have sensory issues and of us only dd2(5) truly can't manage, so I do understand for a TINY minority it is impossible.

But really, I want my life back, I want my children to have their normal life back and if ALL that can do the right thing (read above para before jumping on me) can then we will all be able to get back to normal.

Oh and for those moaning about people wearing surgical style masks rather than cloth coverings, I wear a surgical style as they are recommended by the WHO for those with breathing issues so I will continue to wear them so I can do my part for others.

Yes they do make me uncomfortable and everyone in my family/extended family feel the same. This is so even though 3 of my closest relatives and one other distant relative are NHS workers so wear them all day long at work. I've only worn one in the GP surgery once and on one unavoidable return bus journey. Hate them and the science to support them in terms of the general public wearing them is flimsy as hell, don't think they will have any bearing in transmission at all.

Catastrofuck If you knew why they wore them why was it scary for you? Genuinely asking. I get giving birth during the pandemic in general is terrifying, no denying that at all, but specifically the mask? I don’t get that at all. My second kid once born didn’t leave hospital for eight months, maybe I’m just more used to the clinical get up than others? Dentists also wear masks too, if someone got scared every time they seen that I’d be just as confused.

the science to support them in terms of the general public wearing them is flimsy as hell

Have you evaluated it? Why do you say it's flimsy?

A scientist once compared it to parachutes. There are no good case-control studies for parachutes either.

Because they were trying to communicate with me and the mask was making it impossible for me to understand what they were saying. I was in active labour, not trying to buy stamps. It was fine on the postnatal ward with PPE. My parents are doctors, I’m extremely accustomed to medical settings. Can you just revisit your “childish” comment, and see that perhaps you might be wrong?

I’m not wrong because my comment was specific. I was replying in regards to someone seeing people in the street wearing masks and being scared. If you were frightened because the communication was difficult then that’s another thing entirely.

Pre coronavirus, finding it hard to understand what HCPs were communicating during labour would have been met with sympathy. With or without masks - it just so happens that in my case, the masks were the issue. But now I have to explain, and I’ll probably still be labelled a childish whiner.

Why did you respond with this arseholish message then?

“ They obviously wore it to protect you and your kid and themselves. How did you not understand that?”

Seriously - if what I described was not what you were referring to, you could have just said that. Do you just enjoy appearing to have no compassion?

"Of course its virtue signalling. It's like the Facebook boasts about paying for someone's shopping"

Or... it's not being a selfish cunt. One of the two.

Catastrofuck Look, you jumped onto the commment I made that was specific to something else. All you said was that the wearing of the mask scared you etc. I questioned that then you said about wearing a mask during your labour, if you knew it was to protect you and your kid and with no other context given by you I didn’t get why you were scared. You made no mention of communication issues until I had responded. Be offended if you choose but it is your choice, I wasn’t offensive to you at all.

God this country is pathetic.

We can't even do something as simple as wear a mask in public without having a massive argument about it.

People who want to wear them, wear them.

People who don't want to wear them don't.

But for goodness sake will you all shut the fuck up boring on and whinging about it.

I live in Massachusetts and we have been required to wear masks for weeks now. I was wearing one before that by choice as I am high risk. It was strange to start with, but now it is starting to seem weird to not see someone with one on their face. Loads of people pull them down to just cover their chin when they are socially distanced and then pull them up when they have to get close. You have to wear one all the time if you are inside a public building. Everyone has different designs and fabrics so its becoming a bit of a fashion statement too.
I struggle with my oxygen levels even in normal times, but havent found that the mask affects it at all. The biggest downside is getting a slightly drymouth as I seem to default to mouth breathing without really noticing it.
I really hope people in the UK will just give it a go before judging either way, in MA we had a crazy surge of Covid in April before we locked down. The numbers dropped and it hasnt yet gone back up yet even though we are reopening almost everything now. I think the compulsory masks might have something to do with that.

@PJ6M

God this country is pathetic.

We can't even do something as simple as wear a mask in public without having a massive argument about it.

People who want to wear them, wear them.

People who don't want to wear them don't.

But for goodness sake will you all shut the fuck up boring on and whinging about it.

👍👍

Another moaning minnie about masks.

Seriously why do you want to see the entirety of people's faces? How do cope with beards? Is a chin really that important?

I love the mask wearers. Protecting themselves and others. Win win.

No

I feel uncomfortable when I see them not wearing masks

I've become used to it mostly. I do find it unsettling when it's authority figures like security guards or police. Them hiding their face conveys an implication of enforcing rules by force, no dialogue. I've felt intimidated.

It's another way to hide your face if you are up to no good, mask pulled high, cap or hoody pulled low. So yes that does make me feel uncomfortable.

I worry more about how few people are wearing masks in the UK.
And those that say they can't breathe with them on try getting used to it at home.
I travelled from France on Saturday wearing a mask from check in until arrival, about 2.5 hours. I have asthma. In France, however, masks are worn in all small shops so I'm used to wearing one.

Masks have been mandatory in all shops where I live since the end of April.

At this point, seeing someone attempting to enter a shop without one would be a far more jarring sight. There are notices up instructing shoppers to wear a mask. A staff member will turn you away unless you wear one.

They are worn to protect others, EnlightenedOwl. Not to protect yourself. They protect others from the virus that you could be carrying without realising it.

@userxx, people can carry the virus with no symptoms and can spread it to others. People who are not yet sick can spread the virus in the early stages of the illness.

So masks make sense. They protect others.

I am astonished that even at this point there are people ignorant of the most basic facts about this virus.